Friday Five: Austerity

Happy Friday! Today was a Friday off for me and I spent it running errands and getting Ollie groomed. I can do Max myself, but Ollie’s a spaniel that’s shaped like an ottoman and my clippers seem to just slide through his hair without trimming it.

WM’s been in Michigan visiting his family since Tuesday and it’s pretty quietly chaotic here without him. We’ll be happy to see him home tomorrow night. It’s been thunderstorming every single night since he left, and the dogs are about to hold a no confidence vote on my leadership.

1. When you have to cut back on spending for a time, what are the niceties you’re least likely to give up even though you could (or should)?

We’ve cut back our cable service a few times to just the most basic of basic, and internet access. That hurts WM more than it hurts me because BBC America is always first to go.

2. In leaner times, what are your go-to “famine foods?”

Rice. Noodles. And whatever meat is on fast sale at the grocery store. We’ll buy the soon-to-expire club packs and freeze them. And I get crazy with the coupons. Since it’s just the two of us, sometimes it’s cheaper to get dollar sandwiches at Wendy’s or McDonald’s than it is to buy food. Which explains so much about society, economics and health.

3. How do you keep yourself amused or entertained in times requiring great frugality?

We’ve always kept our World of Warcraft accounts going, and for $13 a month, you really can’t beat it. I can go months without going out to see a movie, for example, because I’ve been entertaining myself for years on WoW!

4. When was the last time you had to go into austerity mode?

WM was unemployed for 101 weeks before his current job. Between that and my brother’s wedding in August of 2010, the Summer of 2010 was the “Summer of Cheap.” We were so, so broke that year.

Twelve years of archives

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